It’s that time of year where town starts to buzz again. The students are rolling back in and it reminds me of the feeling I used to get when this time of year would hit, wishing that summer would never end. Here are some tunes to help you enjoy the remainder of your summer to its fullest capacity.

FYI, I’m trying something new. Below is a SoundCould playlist AND a Spotify playlist. I’m concerned for the future of SoundCloud so Spotify may be taking over on MFL for playlists. However, some musicians that connect with me do not have their music on Spotify thus, the playlists differ slightly in musical content. That being said, neither SoundCloud or Spotify should replace your support for musicians. Please GO to shows, BUY records, BUY T-shirts and tell them you love what they do. Enjoy:

Yumi Zouma is a uniquely pop-oriented group composed of four friends who grew up together in Christchurch, New Zealnd. Christie Simpson, Sam Perry, Charlie Ryder and Josh Burgess parted ways as adults but their love for music kept them together. Via email, the band stayed in touch, coming up with some of the very first sonic bits and pieces of Yumi Zouma. With two EPs out, the band is excited to announce the release of their debut full length, Yoncalla, which will be out on May 27th via Cascine. The second single, “Barricade (Matter of Fact)”, is everything you could ever want in a pop track. It’s simple, catchy, soft at the start and finishes strong. Oh, and the synthesizers. They’re perfect.

Here’s what Josh Burgess had to say about the track:

“’Barricade’ was the first song that was really collaborative for us. I remember sitting on the floor in Charlie’s apartment playing an unplugged bass, Charlie with an unplugged guitar and Christie humming out melodies. I hadn’t worked on a track like that since I was in college. Around the mid-‘00s there was a real fetishization of ‘solo musician in their bedroom writes indie pop masterpiece’ which I think was a result of everyone getting MacBooks, multi track recording becoming seamless and people being sick of diplomatic creative arrangements. We worked that way (in isolation) on our first two EPs, but last year made a conscious effort to write together. It was never for the spontaneous element (the final version of ‘Barricade’ is a far cry from unplugged guitars and bass) rather, a way to squeeze the best ideas out of us and chop the strongest parts into a track.”

You can pre-order the album on iTunes or on vinyl! And check them out touring this spring/summer.